Help Me
by Nightmare Dweller
Summary: Eiji leaves without a reason why, leaving Oishi lost and confused until suddenly, Eiji reappears, begging for Oishi to help him. Golden Pair.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Okay, so I have a new favorite anime. I'm only about 70-80 episodes into the series, so it may not be that great, but I loved the Golden Pair so much that I had to write something. I got some inspiration from other fanfictions and a song or two.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.

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><p><em><strong>Help Me<strong>_

_**Prologue**_

"Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated."  
>- Lamartine<p>

"_Ne, Oishi, I…really screwed up this time…"_

It's hard to remember a time when they weren't together. Seemingly joined at the hip since they met during their first year of junior high, you hardly ever saw one half of the Golden Pair without the other after that. On the rare occasions that they had been apart, Eiji's smiles had always seemed just a tiny bit less bright, and Oishi's focus slipped just a smidge. Fuji had often teased that they would be lost without each other. Eiji had grinned and tackled Oishi into a hug, to which the taller boy had just smiled. But he wasn't smiling now.

"_Oishi…I have to tell you something."_

What would it be like, they had always wondered, if Oishi had never met Eiji, and vice versa. The Golden Pair had always just laughed it off, Eiji claiming that it was impossible because luck and destiny had brought them together. Though, Oishi had always been sure that he never would have made it through junior high without his doubles partner. On the other hand, Eiji was more outspoken and confident, and Oishi had been sure that the redhead would have no trouble fitting in wherever he went.

"_I'm sorry…"_

It's hard to come to terms with something when for three years you had been assured that it would never happen. That, no matter what, that person would be with you forever, and you would never have to say goodbye. Oishi had been shocked, and hurt, and angry. But most of all, he had been left devastated and empty. It hurt to look to the space beside you, the one where you had always seen a smiling face, ready with a joke, and see that it's empty. It hurts to know that a promise has been broken.

"_Oishi…I'm leaving Seigaku."_

How long? How long until it stops hurting? How long until you can feel whole again? How long until they come back to you? The other regulars had been worried about Oishi, and continued to worry. The boy had been rapidly losing weight, began to forget things, and even forgot to feed his fish a couple times. During their first year of high school, Oishi had handed the fish over to Fuji, claiming that he couldn't take care of them at that point in time, but he knew if he gave them to one of the regulars, he could get them back when he was ready.

"…_I don't know when I'll be back."_

Oishi was hurting. Everyone knew he was. Though no one could bring themselves to say aloud what they knew in their minds.

"_I don't know…if I'm coming back at all."_

Kikumaru Eiji had broken his heart when he left. He hadn't told anyone where he was going just that he was going. That he had to leave for at least a little while. He wouldn't say why, just that he was sorry.

"_I'm sorry…Oishi."_

The regulars had been blindsided, left lost and confused by the absence of the bouncy acrobat, but Oishi had been left crushed and alone, with no real reason behind the disappearance of his partner, his best friend, his other half.

"_I don't want to hurt you, but I have to do this. Someday…someday you'll understand."_

'_If you don't want to hurt me, then don't leave me here. Don't make me live without you.'_

Words felt, and understood, but left unspoken.

'_I love you.'_

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><p>Soooo let me know what ya'll think, kay? ;)<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Okay, so I got some requests to continue, and I still have the motivation to do it, so here we go. This is still insight for before the actual story begins, but it is separate from Oishi's part of the prologue, this is Eiji's side, so here we go.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.

**Help Me**

**Prologue 2**

"I hated myself for going, why couldn't I be the kind of person who stays?"  
>― Jonathan Safran Foer, <em>Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close<em>

"_I'm sorry."_

It had been one of the hardest things Eiji had ever done. He had left Oishi and all of his friends at Seigaku behind. His mother had packed up all of their belongings and forced them to leave their home behind, all because of their father. That was the one thing that Oishi had known about. His parents had been fighting for several months before the accident had happened. Eiji rubbed absently at the metal framed brace around his leg, remembering what had happened a year ago.

*Flashback*

"_Get in the car." He growled, grabbing the youngest Kikumaru by his red hair, steering him out of the house._

"_Let go of me! I said, let go!" Eiji screamed, flailing along behind his father._

_The other Kikumaru siblings had been forced to flee after the eldest brother, Hachirou, who had tried defending their baby brother, was thrown into the closet. The twins, their two sisters, were cowering in the corner, clinging to each other and crying. Yori was watching, frozen in panic. Eiji was crying, but he refused to give in, he refused to be a victim of his father's drunken rage._

_Out the door they went, to the car, where Kurou tossed his youngest son into the passenger seat. Then he got in the driver's seat and began to speed down the road. Eiji was scared now. No matter how many times his father had come home drunk after losing his job; he had never resorted to violence with his children. He had screamed and yelled until the twins and Eiji were crying and Hachirou and Yori were shaking with barely contained rage. Now, he had not only slapped his sister, but shoved Hachirou in the closet, and he had abducted him._

_But Eiji was scared. He was scared of what would happen to his siblings. He was scared of what would happen to him. He was scared of what his father could, and would do._

"_I'm going to show you what it means to be loved. You're the most troublesome of all of you brats." His father was grinning manically, rambling to his youngest son, "I'm going to die today. I'm going to die before someone else can kill me. And if I'm going down, you're going with me, brat."_

_Eiji paled as the engine roared in his ears, the scenery flying by, his father laughing joyfully. Suddenly, his vision flashed white and there was a sickening crunch as the car crashed into a red brick wall._

_Blinking blearily, Eiji's head rolled around as he looked down toward his legs. He barely registered that his left leg was trapped beneath the dash board before his vision went black._

*Flashback End*

He had meant to tell him everything. About the arguments, the accident, his leg. Everything. But when he had finally gathered the courage to call him, all he had managed to tell him was that he was leaving. And apologize. Eiji had apologized to everyone. Oishi, Fujiko, all of his friends. But that was all he had managed to say.

"_I'm sorry."_

Eiji cried. For a long time after he had called Oishi, he had cried. He was lost. Empty, having lost the one person he had expected to be with him forever, he had cried until his eyes were puffy and red, his expression hollow. Then the doctor had told him that he may not ever play tennis again, and he had cried again. He cried a lot after he left Seigaku, but always behind his locked bedroom door.

'_I love you.'_

Neither of them had said it, but both had wanted to. Even after he was gone, Eiji felt like Oishi was there next to him. Every time he accomplished something in his counseling, or rehabilitation, he would grin and turn to look at a person who wasn't there. Then he would feel horrible, because it was his fault that Oishi wasn't there with him.

"…_I don't know when I'll be back."_

He had told him things that would make him forget about him. That would make Oishi move on without him.

"_I don't know…if I'm coming back at all."_

But he was going back. Back to where it all began. Eiji didn't know if they would all still be there, but he was going back. He was going back to Seigaku.


End file.
